WASHINGTON — Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona on Tuesday appointed Representative Martha McSally to the Senate seat previously held by John McCain, bowing to the preferences of Washington Republicans despite his own misgivings about Ms. McSally’s lackluster Senate campaign this year. Mr. Ducey, who easily won re-election last month as Ms. McSally was defeated in […]

LANSING, Mich. — On both sides of Lake Michigan this month, Republican-dominated legislatures pushed forward measures aimed at hamstringing Democrats who will take over their statehouses in January. On the Wisconsin side, Gov. Scott Walker shrugged at accusations of dirty politics and partisan overreach and signed them into law. In Michigan, all eyes are on […]

The midterm elections were, to an important extent, a referendum on the Affordable Care Act; health care, not Donald Trump, dominated Democratic campaigning. And voters delivered a clear verdict: They want Obamacare’s achievements, the way it expanded coverage to roughly 20 million people who would otherwise have been uninsured, to be sustained. But on Friday, […]

Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your guide to the day in national politics. I’m Lisa Lerer, your host. For eight years, Republicans dreamed of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Now, they’re finding that eliminating the health care law may actually be more like their version of the nightmare before Christmas. A ruling Friday by a […]

Mark Harris, the North Carolina Republican whose campaign for Congress is mired in a state investigation into election fraud, acknowledged on Friday that he directed the hiring of a political operative who has been accused of illegally collecting absentee ballots. But amid mounting fears among Republicans about his political viability, Mr. Harris again insisted that […]

[What you need to know to start your day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] Representative Chris Collins was narrowly re-elected to a fourth term, overcoming his indictment on insider trading charges and a prolonged vote count that left him with more than a 2,500-vote cushion. Mr. Collins, a Republican from Western New York, […]

WASHINGTON — Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, announced Friday that he would resign at the end of the year, again opening up the seat previously held by John McCain and creating a showdown between Republicans in Washington and Arizona over who should replace Mr. Kyl in an increasingly competitive state. In a letter to […]

This article is part of the Opinion Today newsletter. You can sign up here to receive the newsletter each weekday. First, if you doubt that Republicans are becoming more willing to defy President Trump, consider the Senate’s vote on the crisis in Yemen yesterday. Senators don’t normally rein in a president’s war powers. Wisconsin fallout. […]

Ever since the 2016 election, it’s been common for some people to refer to whatever year we’re in as a synonym for dystopian weirdness. (Last year, for example, CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted “Peak 2017” about a headline saying, “US ambassador denies own comments, then denies denial.”) The world has felt continuously off-kilter, like a TV […]

WASHINGTON — I was wrong about Mitch McConnell. I doubted he would ever put a criminal justice measure that divided Republicans and ran counter to his conservative political instincts on the floor for a vote. But Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the Senate majority leader, has, after years of delay, finally agreed to do […]

WASHINGTON — To the conservative Americans she courted, Maria Butina was the right kind of Russian. She loved guns and the church and networking with top officials in the National Rifle Association. She schmoozed with Republican presidential candidates, and became a supporter of Donald J. Trump. She spent Thanksgiving at a congressman’s country house, took […]

In the past decade, North Carolina has been a central battleground for the partisan fight over voting restrictions. Since their takeover of the state’s General Assembly in 2010, Republicans have devised district maps and pushed through voter identification laws that have prompted a series of high-profile court cases. In a state that retained literacy tests […]

Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile device: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Stitcher | Spotify | Google Play This week on “The Argument” podcast, the columnists look ahead to the new year and debate just how much trouble 2019 holds for President Trump. David Leonhardt points to cracks in the Republican Party’s […]

LUMBERTON, N.C. — The North Carolina legislature Wednesday approved a bill requiring new primary elections if the state elections board calls for a second vote of an election. The measure opens the door for Republicans to consider replacing Mark Harris, their candidate in the disputed race in the Ninth Congressional District. The legislation, if signed […]

Representative Elise Stefanik considers last month’s midterm elections a “watershed moment” — and not in a good way. Ms. Stefanik, a Republican from upstate New York, is sick of her party losing female members. In the new Congress, the number of Republican women in the House will plummet to 13 from 23. That’s the lowest […]

Senior power is the sleeping giant of American politics. In the midterm elections, according to CNN exit polls, 56 percent of voters were over age 50, and about a quarter (26 percent) were 65 or over. By comparison, voters under age 30 accounted for just 13 percent — and it was a good year for […]

ELIZABETHTOWN, N.C. — Democrats have been quick to argue that their losing candidate for Congress in North Carolina’s Ninth District may have been a victim of election fraud. But there might be a Republican victim as well. He is outgoing Representative Robert M. Pittenger, whose narrow loss to Mark Harris in the Republican primary in […]

In the past two years, a wave of prosecutors promising less incarceration and more fairness have been elected across the country. Republicans and Democrats are among the reformers, and they’re taking over district attorney offices in red and blue states. Five progressive D.A.s have been elected in major cities in Texas, of all surprising places, […]

In Michigan and Wisconsin, lame duck Republican-majority legislatures are enacting laws to limit the powers of incoming Democratic governors. Two years ago in North Carolina, the same happened. These moves are particularly striking examples of recent aggressive Republican procedural hardball. Whatever the right rules are for the separation of powers, they should apply to both […]

In another time, the Washington photo opportunity was a steady ritual. Leaders smiled, usually sitting in well-stuffed chairs, at least feigning smiles for the cameras. Pleasantries were spoken. The main objective was to get the picture and say as little as possible. How quaint. Mr. Trump has turned many of these sessions into either monologues […]